worked at a place once with a 100 yard chestnut wood at the bottom of the garden. Over the course of each 12 months we'd accumulate one hell of a lot of bonfire material to burn in a clearing in the wood - mostly conifers I didn't want to compost – after a couple of years I found the nuts coming down off the surrounding trees were the biggest I'd ever seen.... and I found this recipe
Chestnut Mound (Mont Blanc)
Boil 2 pounds of nuts for a few minutes to loosen shells
cook the shelled in nuts in a double boiler over hot water in:
one quart of milk with 1/4 tsp salt; 1 cup of sugar and a tsp of vanilla.
When the nuts are mealy, drain them and push thru a sieve so they fall lightly, in a mound, onto a large plate (try not to squash them)
Whip up a cup of heavy cream and fold in 1tsp of vanilla and 2Tbs of icing sugar
Place cream gently on mound and maybe grate a little choc over the top - Chill before serving - delish...